Sunday, April 01, 2007

Bridge

This weekend I've been practicing, over and over again, a tough fingerpicking piece called Bridge by Bert Jansch. Melodically, it's so beautiful, though, I don't mind the the repetition. Years ago I tried to master it but gave up. With this new guitar, all seems possible. One advantage of developing good guitar callouses is you can handle hot toast with your hands._____________________

I've also -- with considerably less enthusiasm -- been trying to complete a poem for CV2's 2-day poem contest. 10 words are provided, you have to come up with a poem of under 48 lines containing those 10 words. Unfortunately, this year half the words come out of a literary dissertation, half the words out of a yellowing issue of "Science Today". The most vivid ones are "gyroscope" and "mole". Last year the selection was not much better: it included "pelican" and "cauterize" and "teapot". What's with those guys out there in Winnipeg? Anyway, in the first half hour last night I strung together something just to see if I could use all those blasted words is quickly as possible and get it over with. Tonight I reworked the piece into something bleak, cryptic, and quasi-"intense" -- but definitely not anything that stirs pride in my frame. Should I send it in? I'll decide at five minutes to midnight.

P.S. I sent it in. Now I'm hoping against hope that I don't win. What's with this guy in Montreal?

P.P.S. Hilarious: I just got this note from them in reply:

Hi Brian,

Impressive, 5 of the words in 2 lines. In all the years we’ve been doing this, I don’t think I’ve seen that done before. Good luck with it.

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About Me

Brian Campbell is a poet, singer-songwriter, editor, translator, photographer and teacher. His third full-length poetry collection, Shimmer Report, was published by Ekstasis Editions in 2015. He is also the author of Remnants of Autumn (Sky of Ink Press photobook, 2016), A Private Collection (Sky of Ink Press chapbook, 2014),Passenger Flight (Signature Editions, 2009), Guatemala and Other Poems (1994) and Undressing the Night (Editorial Lunes, Costa Rica, 2007), a translation of the selected poems of Francisco Santos. His poetry, reviews and essays have appeared in numerous reviews, including Saranac Review, New Quarterly, Prairie Fire, and The Rover. A finalist in the 2006 CBC Literary Award for Poetry, he is also co-founder/editor of Sky of Ink Press, which prints quality poetry chapbooks. His independent music CD, The Courtier’s Manuscript, was released in 2002.